一个被恰当重塑的过往
2017
在这个项目中，我在阿姆斯特丹西北的一块二战后填海造出的土地上，通过挖掘-筛选-清理-回填的方式创造了一块面积1平米穿透人类纪地层的“无人类痕迹“的土地。这个行为的挖掘深度即是在地的填海的厚度，过程中主要移除了这块填海土壤中的两种人造物：由二战废墟而来的建筑残渣构成的表面硬化层，以及下层土壤颗粒吸附的微塑料颗粒。这个项目制造了对于人类纪地层的一个干预(intervention)。而这一平米的存在本身，也成为了一个“没有”人类信息的时间胶囊和一个悖论。
A Felicitous Neo-past
2017
A Felicitous Neo-Past is a project that marked an interventional gesture in the Anthropocene which is today considered the latest geological epoch. It contains two main parts: a small piece of “human traces-free” land (52°25'08.7"N 4°47'54.1"E) and relics of Anthropocene which are shown through a group of installations.
The artist created a small piece of “human traces-free” land, which is a one square meter area at the artificial land of ADM, Amsterdam - a field that was completely reclaimed in the decade following the end of World War II (1950s-1960s). Identifying the thickness of the reclaimed layer as the physical depth of the Anthropocene, I started excavating in the one square meter area and collected the earth. I remediated the soil through sorting, washing and rinsing to erase human traces within, including synthetic polymers such as micro-plastic, various chemicals, and rubble for surface hardening purposes (ruin from the WWII). Then the hole was back filled with the treated earth, becoming a man-made geological marker that contains no human message on the engineered land. This piece of "human traces-free” land indicates a paradox through its own existence.
The Installation presents relics through four pairs of soil monoliths. Each pair consists of two soil section samples which were excavated from the inside(remediated) and the outside of the hole. A webcam system is constantly observing the monolith and trying to unscramble the pattern. Meanwhile, all the rubble is poured on the floor with a wind vane and a neon sign (a quote from the propaganda of Marshall plan) on top.
These shown traces were remains and surpluses of human activities, bio-geo-chemical processes, and global movements of various natures. As such, these are a chapter in the history of Gaia as a complex interconnected system rather than merely the past of humanity. The project is a comment on the entangled relationship among human, environment and other entities on earth from a non-anthropocentric perspective.
A Felicitous Neo-past won the Bio-Art & Design award(2017), in collaboration with Heather Leslie ,senior scientist at Environment and Health Dep. VU, Amsterdam.
Venue support: ADM Amsterdam
Sponsored by: Zonmw
Facilitate by: MU ArtSpace
Installation view
Soil monoliths from the inside of the hole(remediated earth)
Soil monoliths from the outside of the hole(reclaimed earth)
Close up of the soil monolith(reclaimed earth)
The webcam system is living streaming the close up of the monolith while sending photo to an online computer vision algorithm and getting back visually similar images, and also screening other related video and images, which reveals the interconnection among the artificial land, past of humanity and random entities
此装置引用了马歇尔计划宣传海报中的一句标语“Whatever the weather, we only reach welfare together”，并将其制成霓虹灯放置于建筑残渣之上，装置的中心有一个随机摆动的风向标。这个装置作为对人类中心主义的一种批评，除了为原文中象征政治、经济、文化气候的“weather”添加真实环境的隐喻之外，还质疑了在当下人类世中，“We(我们)”作为自然“welfare(幸福)”决定者的合理性。
This installation quoted a slogan "Whatever the weather, we only reach welfare together" in the Marshall Project poster, and made it into a neon light and placed it on top of the architectural debris. At the center of the installation there is a wind vane that swings randomly. As a criticism of anthropocentrism, this installation not only adds metaphors of the real environment to the “weather” symbolizing the political, economic, and cultural “weather” in the original text, it also questions the “We” in the current Anthropocene. Reasonableness as the decider of natural "welfare".
Intervention process
for more info: projectanon2017.tumblr.com
The location
Excaviation process(rubble layer)
Reserved grass layer
Excaviation process(reclaimed earth layer)
The bottom of the hole(the original seabed layear is revealed)
Washing and rinsing